And God Said "It Is Good"
Sunday was a day of surprises for me. I was burdened with worries, issues of the heart, and a whole lot of self pity. It did not help that the church I have to go for the next seven months is very steeped in word of faith doctrine, which I find mildly infuriating. I wasn't looking forward to the week ahead, really drinking in ergs of nihilist thoughts as I pondered what seems to be my screwed up life.
Then something clicked, I suddenly realized, like a finger and voice pointing me to the years worth of blog posts and books I've been reading that precisely contradicts my worries, and sweetens my bitter thoughts. I took a short break from posting because of these thoughts, but here's what I remembered.
I remembered that it's not about me, prosperity preachers often over personalize prayers, praying for *my* blessing, *my* health and so on. Word of faith preachers then put the burden to you, telling you to "have faith", you're "superhuman" in Christ. But scriptures don't tell of a superhuman race, but a human one, often broken, often very frail, and it's through this frailness that real strength is displayed, my blessing is not in physical things, my health is important but not all important, my blessing is Christ, my health is in Him, whatever happens I will trust Him. My broken story does not negate his words on the creation, of which I am apart of, for He said It is good, and no matter what happens, I believe that.
A weight lifted of my conscience that day, I don't need to worry anymore, my assurance is found in the resurrected one. Here's some David Bentley Hart to complete this thought:
If he is not the savior of all, the Kingdom is only a dream, and creation something considerably worse than a nightmare. But, again, it is not so. God saw that it was good; and, in the ages, so shall we [1]
[1]. David Bentley Hart, God, Creation, and Evil: The Moral Meaning of creatio ex nihilho, Radical Orthodoxy: Theology, Philosophy, Politics, Vol. 3, Number1 (September 2015): 16-17